California is already giving in to pressure from cities over its drought plan

A section of Lake Oroville
is seen nearly dry on August 19, 2014 in Oroville, California. As
the severe drought in California continues for a third straight
year, water levels in the State's lakes and reservoirs is
reaching historic lows. Lake Oroville is currently at 32 percent
of its total 3,537,577 acre feet.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California water regulators on
Saturday revised a still-tentative drought plan by easing cuts
for Los Angeles and San Diego and bumping up reduction
targets in the areas that consume the most water.

The changes are an apparent response to criticism from cities,
which would have taken the brunt of the cuts under the original
plan presented earlier this month.

But regulators are standing pat on what critics say is the
initial plan's leniency toward the state's huge agricultural
industry.

With the country's most populous state entering the fourth year
of a devastating drought, Governor Jerry Brown has
ordered an overall 25 percent cut in urban water use though the
first statewide mandatory reductions in California's
history.

The plan, developed by the state's Water Resources Control
Board, is scheduled to be approved in early May, but officials
said more fine-tuning could take place before then.

"We're not at the point where we can set a single target for
everywhere in California, because climates are so different
and because we're in an emergency," Felicia Marcus, chair of
the State Water Resources Control Board, said in a
conference call with reporters.

Brown has said cities that already use less water than others
would have to make relatively smaller cuts, while those with
higher per-capita use are facing more stringent targets.

The plan that regulators presented earlier this month would have
divided local water agencies into four tiers, imposing a 10
percent conservation standard on those that use less water per
capita and a 35 percent standard on those that use the most.

The plan unveiled on Saturday essentially doubles the number of
tiers. Regulators said the additional categories would mean
agencies with similar levels of consumption would not fall into
tiers with vastly different curtailment standards.

Los Angeles and San Diego, the state's No. 1 and No. 2
cities, respectively in population, would each find themselves in
a tier with a mandatory curtailment of 16 percent under the
revised plan, compared to 20 percent in the tier they would have
fallen under in the previous plan.

The suppliers with the highest per capita water use would have to
accept a 36 percent cut, up from 35 percent.

Meanwhile, environmentalists and some urban dwellers say the
state's $45 billion agriculture industry should bear a greater
share of water savings, given its massive water use.

But Marcus defended the industry, saying farmers have already
"taken very severe cuts."

The water board has proposed fining water utilities up to $10,000
per day if they fail to persuade residents and businesses to meet
their conservation goals.

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